PRE- big adventure

NOTE to self - we do not need anymore babies hehehe
Pre-big adventure we took the cats down to Khobar to kennels (Wednesday morning). Meouwie our oldest obviously gets car sick because she did similar on her long trek up to Rastanura last July.
Halfway into the drive Meouwie decides to have a nice runny pooh in her cat box and in her efforts to 'cover' it up she steps in it. SO we pull over to try and clean up - Andre NEVER touched a pooh nappy for his daughters but HAD to help me clean up Meouwie (me holding her while he wetwipes her paws clean hehehe). No sooner are we back on the road then Ramadi decides its toilet time in her box. So theres me sitting in the back back of the car with all the catfood and two cat boxes, Nicholas on my lap so he'll calm down and I have to clean out Ramadi's catbox.
I thought I was done with cleaning up after babies - obviously not hehehe

September/October Break 2008

We started off our break celebrating Saudi National day (September 23), a wonderful family day, Ashton, Sandi & Tyler joined us for some shopping in Bahrain before home, relax and then spinning in the evening. The next few weekdays, Andre was still working so while he headed to work. the girls of the house had a lazy pj-day watching movies and eating junk ! A wonderfully relaxing time together !

Once Andre was on leave for Eid though we headed down to Doha, Qatar to visit with Larry & Nikki Kenton (friends from SA). We arrived after a long but uneventful journey on September 30 - Larry's birthday ! Happy Happy Larry =) We enjoyed a picnic on the corniche in the evening before collapsing after a tiring day. Then is was off to shop for our camping trip. Once back the girls enjoyed a swim while Nikki prepared for Larry's birthday dinner with friends.

Thursday saw us head out to the desert for a day/night of playing on the quads and camping. Mmmmm an experience ! The girls had a ball on the quads and as usual it was difficult to get Aimee out of the water when we took a walk down to the beach hehehe. All in all a hot, windy but fun experience, made all the more fun spending it with special friends.

Only low-point of the whole break was that Snowbell took a turn for the worse. She ended up being taken to the vet midway through the week and had to stay for treatment. We were due to fetch her on Saturday after we returned from Doha. Dr. Seega was confident the antibiotics and other meds she was taking would clear her kidneys and the parasite that was causing her aneamia. He called on Thursday but we missed the call... when we called back on Friday, we received the sad news that Snowbell had passed away the night before. Sad news for us but finally she wasn't suffering anymore. Snowbell we love you, you were quite the character, you will be missed !

Snowbell

This is our Snowbell, another cat we adopted along the way ....

We have had her for 6 years and she has only just started liking us hehehe. After her recent visit to the vet to be shaved, the vet finally decided that what previous vets had been calling 'hairballs' in her abdomen were lumps in her mammary glands. So she was booked in the following week for the lumps to be removed. She returned home with a cut the length of her belly :( and we thought we were done...... However, on our return visit for stitches to be removed, it seems they might have missed one and we'll be making another appointment for surgery. Good news about the entire surgery thing is that she has finally figured out we like her and she can like us. She follows me around constantly now, sleeps in our bed and has even started talking - previously, she didn't make a sound !

Hmmmmm cats are such interesting pets huh !

Farewell Kiwi

My baby boy is missing .......

He was last seen on Sunday the 11th. In the three years he has been with us, he has never not slept in our bed ! So when he didn't turn up on Monday .... something must have been wrong !

We have walked the compound up and down, inside and out, several times a day, calling him. Now some of you might say, but cats don't come when they're called - Well ours do, especially Kiwi, in fact he will call you back :) ! We have signs up everywhere, we made all the necessary phonecalls to check on whether he could have been "found" and taken elsewhere, nothing !

We are choosing to believe our boy has been adopted (imo forcibly because I can't believe he chose not to come home - afterall he was king of the castle here hehehe) into another home because his vanishing into thin air is just too much of a puzzle.

So, farewell my beautiful boy, hope you're happy where ever you are now
xoxoxo

**of course if you should ever manage to find your way home, you'll always be welcomed with open arms**

Introducing Boris ....

10 days ago we welcomed a very timid little creature into our home -

how he will ever survive this mad house I have no idea ?!

Boris - named after his heritage - he's a Russian Hamster - more than likely miniture, we're not sure but he is pretty small - well smaller than we ever remember hamsters being.
He is not very social yet but will happily emerge from his sawdust hole if you're offering food :) Loves running at night - much to the facination of Kiwi who has been caught sitting in the dark on his table - just watching !

Needless to say the child is happy, she has her hamster !

Did have a panic though.... was insisting on mom and dad spending some time with him last weekend. So she proceeded to pick up his cage and carry it from her bedroom through to us. Only to be stopped in her tracks as the bottom of his cage separated from the top. Sawdust and food everywhere ! Boris survived ! Thankfully he was having a snooze in his bedroom which is attached to the top part - shew !

Face was a picture, we were just more concerned with the rescue to get a shot heheheh

Almost Pox-free :(

So lets travel back in time to laaast weekend. I didn't post because André and I were due to go the Grand Prix in Bahrain and thought we'd make it just one posting then. News before that was simple... yay Lucy and I went back to school on Tuesday, we were finally pox-free. Poor Aimee had had to have her birthday put on hold because of her sister's pox so once we were back at school, we went out Tuesday night and got the rest of her birthday present. In Aimee's words "FINALLY". You see some seriously crazy person in our house promised their child a hamster when she turned 8 - maybe they thought she'd forget ??? Well for months leading up, all it could say was "When I'm 8, I'm getting a hamster....you promised !" or some such statement. Leading up to her birthday we were reminded and well everyday after we were reminded. So FINALLY we have 3 cats, some dying fish and a hamster in our home.
The world was a relatively happy place !
We woke up Sunday morning, getting ready for school - girls were going to school while we were at the Grand Prix and then our regular babysitter would pick them up and spend the couple of hours with them until we got home. So André comes through to the kitchen and says "you want the good news or the bad news first ?" So what would you have said ???
Good News - Aimee has chicken pox ! Bad News - Aimee has chicken pox !
You see we actually thought her swollen glands, conjunctivitus and fever while Lucy had all the spots was her having a mild dose - we were wrong ! Considering she had no fever and just enough blisters to say she couldn't go to school, we hunted for a babysitter to stay with her at home. She has been off from school ever since. So she missed getting her report card - yes during all this we're rushing around trying to get this done, and the start of her first SAT's. Poor kid has had it really badly, the pox are everywhere - and we mean EVERYWHERE !
So maybe in a week, we will finally be able to say, we're pox-free for good !

No news really ... Just pictures ....

Okay so if blogger is kind today and our connection doesn't seriously irritate me, you should be looking at a series of photos from the past few weeks.
Its busy here, no real news, Andrè reffing at the Bahrain 10's last night and today. off school tomorrow Saudi National Day :).

At the end of the first week of school we have a watermelon seed spitting contest. Here Aimee and Brigid (NZ friend from school) thoroughly enjoy their slices of watermelon.

"My best friend Aaron and his mom (Miss Jana)" says AimeeMy Lucy child is not into fruit and veggies and so she's here with everyone having their watermelon but adamant she won't try any herself !And now the infamous Kiwi crawling out from his hidey-hole between our pillows. This is our Kiwi cat that was 'saved' last December - happy as a kitten at school but was due to be caught and ... so typical for us, he got adopted :)

Now being ALL BLACK, it seemed fitting that he be called "Kiwi" :)

So when the Springboks play the All Blacks, he either hides or runs hehehe

September 10th, the girls got to show Andrè around school. (I was obviously being teacher for the night) This is our Open House night at school where students introduce their teachers and share their school with their parents.

Here Aimee "shows off" ...Pointing out some artwork etc. outside her classroom.

Aimee and her Korean friend Sayuko.

Aimee, Lucy and Miss Agnes - Aimee's classroom assistant

Right by this point I have spent two and a half hours trying to get this posted. Blogger is not cooperating but even more so our ADSL guys have some serious explaining to do !!!!!

Mrs. Olga Whitaker - Aimee's teacher.Lucy and Mrs. Traci Porter - her fabulous Kindergarten teacher :)

Now its Lucy's chance to do some showing off ....Alongside some artwork outside her classroom.Aimee and Lucy with Olivia. Olivia's Mom and Dad, Jennifer and Shawn have joined our staff this year from Canada.

And finally cos I am really tense now after fighting with our connection...
Time for a funny :
A week or so ago, Andrè and I took the girls to Rumors the Sports Bar/Family Restaurant/Arcade on our compound for supper and a few games. After supper we decided to play a bit of air hockey. Lucy and Andrè on a team and Aimee and I on one. Needless to say Aimee and I were doing really well. The match turned a touch competitive as Andrè and I faced each other in the final game. He was a point or two up when out of Aimee's mouth comes "come on Luce, distract Daddy so Mommy can win" hehehehe mmmm maybe we have to discuss some issues of fair play and sportsmanship :)

The long awaited update

Okay so its been an age but I have a seriously good excuse - "I've been really busy!".
The last few weeks of our holiday home were hectic. Tried to get the girls out to do and see some stuff and Andre and I were still busy tying up loose ends with finances and house etc.
So as far as home goes .... photos you're looking at show Super Lucy (can't really explain how this came about, just Lucy decided her underwear worn on the outside one night made her a superhero and she pranced around like this for half the night hehehe), Andre relaxing, us at Mitchell Park with the girls - meerkats were a huge hit so they get a photo all of their own :), our last night at home with family (Andre doing 'magic' for the kids) and lastly Alison and my Mom seeing us off at the airport.

Super Lucy

Andrè sitting on his behind :)
mmm does he have something to smile about hey !?Aimee and Lucy saying hello to a VERY friendly meerkatWhere's Daddy ?

Oh, there you are ! wow do I have an odd look on my face :)Just hanging around !What you see is an ordinary dishcloth - do you agree ?
Now watch this ....Alison (my sister) and Llewelyn (her husband)
enjoying "the show"More magic, Andre tries to catch Keagan (Alison's youngest son)
while Aimee, Lucy and Jordyn (Kim & Malcolm's daughter) look onKim (my sister - the eldest) and Malcolm (her husband)
also watching "the show"The day has come all too quickly, back to Saudi,
Alison and my mom come along with us to the airport.

Which brings us to getting back to Saudi. Left Durban at 2pm, arrived in Joburg to a temperature of 7C - down to 2C with windchill. Now you must realise going back to Saudi, I had dressed the girls in light clothing and taken along light jackets - Andre didn't even have a jacket. Needless to say we were a light shade of blue once we had walked from the arrivals terminal to the International departures one brrrr.

And then - arriving in Dubai at 5am (3am RSA time) the temperature was 38C shew ! By 10am in Saudi - its already 47C ! Who knows what it is physically with the humidity factored in, here we just say HOT, FLIPPING HOT ! If anyone knows where I can personally thank the creator/inventor of the AC, send his/her contact details along hehehehe Well with getting back and getting used to sleeping with AC on etc. we have all - except Lucy, had our turn at having a cough and cold but that seems to be sorted now thankfully. First week home we stayed in, me trying to get prepared for school.

Mira (Lucy's friend from school) came over for a playdate. Snowbell finally got her annual haircut - nobody better laugh at my sweetgirl !

Kiwi got neutered finally, so once again Andre is the only real boy in the house although theoretically he's also been 'neutered' so I guess we don't have any REAL boys in our house hehehe

Then it was back to school for the girls and I, trying to prepare before the teachers all came back in. Last week was their work week and it was hectic trying to get the new teachers, teachers that had moved rooms and schedules all sorted ! We have 11 new staff members and almost 100 new students. To give a better idea, 2 years ago we started the school year with less than 100 students because of so many companies pulling families out of Saudi with all the terrorist problems. This is for a school from Preschool to Grade Eight. Last year we celebrated when we finally hit 200 students ! We started today with just over 270 on the roll. I was at school this weekend (Thursday and Friday) still trying to finalise shedules etc. with Jana (my friend and VP). Andre has been an absolute darling putting up with all the hours afterschool I've been doing too, thankyou my sweetheart xxx
So the year started today, Aimee going into second grade and Lucy into Kindergarten.

This is us leaving for school this morning. The Second GraderThe KindergartenerMmmm those backpacks do look a little large - especially on Lucy hehehe

We had to leave the camera outside so it wouldn't mist up when we tried to take the photo like last year hehehe. Lucy only had orientation today so her official first day is tomorrow. It seemed to go off ok but I am sure you'll be hearing and seeing more about their year as it carries on.

Thats it for now, got work to do so we'll sign off and say enjoy your day - weekend for most of you :) Til the next post which will hopefully be Friday as usual again :)